


I Need You Like A Punch in the Face

by Mischief_Tea



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien is so wrecked he doesn't even know how to act wrecked, By probably I mean DEFINITELY, F/M, Gen, I was gonna say Papillon but tbh Hawkmoth DOES sound cooler, Marinette your Ladybug is showing, Nathalie Sanchill, Nino Lahiffe: legendary defender, The Gorilla is a blessing, a salt and buttering, gabriel is hawkmoth, not anti-adrinette but definitely unexpectedly uhhhhhh, post-hawkmoth, probably gonna turn into a reveal fic, you can only throw shade when there's a source of light
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-07
Updated: 2018-02-07
Packaged: 2019-03-15 04:18:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13605363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mischief_Tea/pseuds/Mischief_Tea
Summary: She didn't mean to do it, she just... had a lot of conflicting emotions.





	I Need You Like A Punch in the Face

**Author's Note:**

> So this is just an idea I had about what if Hawkmoth’s identity was revealed in the course of his defeat, but somehow Ladybug and Chat Noir made it out with their superhero ID’s intact?

Ladybug had immediately left to “find Adrien”... who had… been found elsewhere in the house just a few minutes later. She _immediately and without questioning his innocence_ declared that they needed to quickly confront the media in order to “clear his name” before anyone got any ideas.  
  
She was taken aback when he drew away from her outstretched hand instead of taking it.  
  
“How do you _know_ I wasn’t involved?” He said darkly.  
  
She blinked, the fact that she’d clearly never considered this obvious on her face.  
  
“What? N- nooo you’re Adrien! You couldn’t possibly have known your father was a horrible-”  
  
He shrank back and she stopped, slapping a hand over her mouth. Tears of surprise and self mortification stung the corners of her eyes.  
  
“Oh God, I’m so sorry. I’m just… I’m in shock over all of this, too! Just…” She moved into his space and took one of his hands despite his obvious reluctance, trying to catch his gaze eye to eye.  
  
“Adrien. I know this is hard and you’re not expected to be okay with it right now, but we need to make a statement or you could be in very hot water with the authorities. I just want to put in a good word for you, or even maybe provide an alibi of some sort. I could drop you off somewhere else in the city?”  
  
Adrien just shook his head mutely, but went along with her now as she led them toward the window.  
  
  
\---  
  
  
The media attention was hell. Most of Gabriel’s assets had been frozen while a full investigation was underway, leaving Adrien in a sort of financial limbo. Nathalie and the Gorilla had apparently still been checking up on him periodically despite not presently being paid to do so.  
  
The Gorilla’s quiet but familiar presence was a relief and a source of much-needed stability. Nathalie’s… well to say they were uncomfortable visits would be an understatement. He was kind of surprised that she’d been allowed to see him at all considering the amount of police questioning the woman had been put through. Even after all that, he got the impression that she was only coming by out of guilt rather than actual care.  
  
It stung. But it didn’t surprise him.  
  
To his immense gratitude, Nino’s parents had offered him a place to stay if he needed it, but thus far he’d been allowed to continue to stay in the mansion. It may have been Hawkmoth’s place of residence, but it wasn’t really a crime scene since neither the magical nature of akuma attacks nor the villain’s…( _he found himself choking on the term, now_ )… last stand were tied to the location.  
  
He’d stayed.  
  
It was disconcerting and strange, he thought, that the house he’d so often compared to a prison only now felt like a fortress of safety.  
  
Or maybe it was just that, for the first time, he was genuinely afraid of what people might do to him if they caught him outside.  
  
The house was empty now. He thought he might have lost his mind a little if it hadn’t been for Plagg. Plagg and the silent and unresponsive peacock miraculous now resting in his desk drawer.  
  
He wasn’t really alone, his kwami kept reminding him.  
  
But the house echoed and there wasn’t a single message on his phone from anyone he knew and Ladybug…  
  
Ladybug hadn’t been seen since that day.  
  
  
\--  
  
  
It was a surprise to everyone, the boy himself included, when Adrien still showed up at school the next week, somehow evading reporters and just appearing inside the building.  
  
“How did you do that, dude? Climb in the bathroom window?” Nino asked, half joking and half-concerned.  
  
“Something like that,” Adrien said, his smile a bit more fragile and cardboard than usual.  
  
Classes mostly ran like normal, but there was a new tension there. Adrien had distanced himself from everyone but Nino, and that was more out of his friend’s sheer stubborn determination than any work on his part.  
  
It was one of the few little things that was helping Adrien to hold it together. At least to keep up appearances.  
  
His peers were wary of him now. They gave him distance in the halls and he could hear them talking about the supervillain, _his father’s_ , recent reveal in sometimes hushed and sometimes utterly indiscreet conversations as he tried to ignore them. Pretend he couldn’t hear what they were saying about him. Pretend it didn’t matter, because he’d done the right thing.  
  
_He’d done the right thing, right?_  
  
Ladybug had thought so… but then, Ladybug hadn’t known he was any part of the very battle that collapsed any last chance at a family he’d ever had. And she’d flat-out abandoned her partner at the end of the fight to go seek out his civilian identity…  
  
He wasn’t sure how he felt about a lot of it, but mostly he was just finding stupid.  
  
Yeah, no shit he had needed a cover story. When _Hawkmoth was living in the same house_. How was anyone supposed to believe that he’d had no clue? And worse, that _Chat Noir_ was that same clueless idiot?  
  
It was fine, though, since the day after Hawkmoth’s arrest, hardly anyone had brought it up.  
  
This was weird for all of them.  
  
\----  
  
Marinette had been subdued since the day of her “victory”. While everyone else was astir with the news, she couldn’t muster the energy to do more than give Alya an encouraging smile or a weak comment of disconnected agreement as her friend tried to field every morsel of hero gossip on the market all at once.  
  
Nino had taken to acting like Adrien's sheild against the rest of the world all week. The world, and Alya, who thankfully had the grace to focus more on battle details and less on the villain himself when she was with them or in class.  
  
Chloe had reacted loudly over everything in shock at first, but after seeing how Adrien wilted in on himself she had immediately snapped her mouth shut and gave him a look of uncharacteristic sympathy. She didn’t apologize, but she did stomp over and give him a surprisingly earnest hug before turning away and not saying another word about it the rest of the week.  
  
Somewhere in their weird friendship, it seemed to have been appreciated. At least, the frequent expressions of relief he shot the girl in return was something, even if she pretended like she didn’t see them.  
  
Marinette desperately wanted to help more - he’d been so closed off to her as Ladybug - but… she had even less of an opening to do so now, as Marinette. And she couldn’t figure out how to reach out to him.  
  
She also couldn’t stop that niggling seed of doubt that had been planted on the day of Hawkmoth’s defeat. _How much did you know?_ It said, casting shadows where at once there had only been sunshine. He hadn’t met her eyes once since that day. It was worrying in more ways than one.  
  
Also worrying was that her partner hadn’t contacted her or been seen since the battle.  
  
Of course, there were (obviously) no more akuma to confront, and the butterfly was safely back in Master Fu’s keeping. But… Chat had been _off_ during a lot of that final battle. There was a lot at stake, and they were both understandably under so much additional stress, but…  
  
_Oh. And then you left him. Good going, **partner.**_ She thought toward her self, derisively.  
  
Okay, so maybe he was a little stung that she’d off and vanished after their greatest victory. But at the time she wasn’t sure she’d be able to celebrate with the huge concerns that had welled up over Adrien’s well-being ( _‘and possible involvement’_ , that traitorous little voice whispered).  
  
She really did care about her kitty and didn’t like that she’d sidelined him there at the end, though.  
  
It was the last class of the week and now the usual weekend hubbub left people milling around, talking, heading home or staying to goof off with their friends.  
  
Nino had to leave immediately to take care of some family business and had vanished out the gate of the courtyard, and it was like Alya had a switch flipped in her brain as she started going on about the myriad theories circulating over Ladybug and Chat Noir’s now infamous battle. Several students from other classes had overheard and were now joining in.  
  
Marinette was tired.  
  
“Ladybug actually said they’d caught clues that it might be him earlier on, but dismissed it after he managed to akumatize himself. Which, _who does that?!_ ”  
  
“Ladybug is so smart. I’m surprised she and Chat Noir didn’t catch on. I mean, they’re magical, too, right?”  
  
Marinette’s focus snapped entirely to the conversation.  
  
“Chat Noir did have some doubts…” she murmured, not realizing she had spoken aloud. This came to an eager Alya’s attention.  
  
Neither of them noticed Adrien lagging behind the crowd and making his way cautiously out of the classroom behind them.  
  
“What? Mari, have you been holding out on me? No one’s said anything about this. Did Ladybug say something?”  
  
Marinette’s eyes went wide as she tried to wave her friend off.  
  
“Oh! No no I just remember catching them talking once! Er… during a battle! I was hiding nearby and I just remember that every time Ladybug tried to bring up Gabriel Agreste, Chat didn’t really want to consider it…”  
  
Okay, that was too much information, and honestly, information she didn’t want people knowing about her partner. Those were private discussions! What was she saying?  
  
Her partner had seemed so torn by what they’d had to do…  
  
Her hands curled into fists.  
  
“It’s not his fault though, none of us could have seen this coming,” she added softly.  
  
But then Adrien spoke up, his tone sharp and bitter.  
  
“No. Chat Noir was stupid and irresponsible for not listening to her.”  
  
Marinette whirled on him. **_“Don’t you say something like that about Chat Noir!”_**  
  
For a second, she was surprised to see that it was him standing there. And Adrien looked defiant. It was strange, the first words he’d said to anyone all day and it was...this.  
  
_He didn’t mean that._ she thought, but then, welling up, _How **dare** you, of all people?!_  
  
“Why?” The angry heat in his voice took Marinette’s breath away, and for once not in a good way. “It’s _true._ ”  
  
There was a beat.  
  
And then, to the shock to everyone, herself included, she decked him.

**Author's Note:**

> Not gonna lie I just really wanted a scene of Mari decking Adrien in defense of his alter ego and this is what my brain came up with. Hahaha
> 
> It might take me a while to get around to finishing part 2, but the reveal is like 99.99% inevitable at this point. Adrien is in full salty FML mode and Marinette is just like, EXPLAIN YOUR BEHAVIOR, BITCH.
> 
> Also Chat Noir and Ladybug need to suck less at communicating.
> 
> And, now that he has such an open schedule, Adrien spends an unhealthy amount of time in Hawkmoth's lair.


End file.
